Kiva

I was introduced to kiva by the senior pastor of my church. Had he not taken the risk himself to test it, I probably would never have considered participating. But I'm glad I did! I'm hoping that by letting my friends know the enormous benefits and nominal risks, they'll also join and help those who truly need help.

Here's how it works:

You register.

You browse the profiles of the hundreds of poverty-stricken, small business entrepreneurs around the world who need a loan, but aren't able to get it from banks or other lending institutions.

You select the members whose pleas touch your heart.

You loan the member(s) money, as little as $25.

When each member's loan request, often as little as a few hundred dollars, is fully-funded, the member begins repaying the loan.

By the end of the loan term, you get your money back.

You not only help that member, but the member's entire family and community.

With the loan repayed, you can turn around and give someone else a hand.

Your loans don't go directly to the members. Loans are managed by kiva partners around the world. The repayment rate is posted on the kiva.org Web site. As of October 19, 2010, the rate is 98.95%, so there's very little risk. This is an easy, secure, relatively risk-free way of helping people pull themselves out of poverty. So join today and get loaning!

"If you can't say something nice, let's hear it!"  Joan Rivers

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